PF/QF’s No Child Left Indoors National Awards Honor Outstanding Youth Program Efforts

Awards recognize chapter, volunteer, and partner efforts to engage youth in outdoor activities

Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s No Child Left Indoors National Awards Honor Outstanding Youth Program Efforts
Pheasants Forever NCLI Chapter of the Year
Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever
Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever

St. Paul, MN -(AmmoLand.com)- At the 2016 National Pheasant Fest & Quail Classic, the Northern Colorado Chapter of Pheasants Forever and the Mark Twain (Missouri) Chapter of Quail Forever received No Child Left Indoors national awards, the organization’s highest honors for chapters involved in engaging the next generation of hunters and conservationists.

The No Child Left Indoors national awards annually recognize one Pheasants Forever chapter and one Quail Forever chapter for their youth program efforts. Additionally, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever bestow No Child Left Indoors national awards to one outstanding volunteer and one key partner who have helped provide outdoor opportunities for youth throughout the nation.

“Creating the next generation of outdoorsmen and women is only possible with dedicated, passionate individuals who volunteer their time and talents to pass on the legacy of conservation,” explained Cheryl Riley, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s vice president of education and outreach. “Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever volunteers have gone above and beyond the call of duty in the past year to host 1,459 youth events which impacted more than 75,000 youth participants and 22,000 adult-onset hunters to represent new organizational records.”

Pheasants Forever NCLI Chapter of the Year

Celebrating their 25th anniversary banquet in March, the Northern Colorado Chapter of Pheasants Forever has delivered every aspect of the organization’s conservation mission including wildlife habitat conservation projects and advocacy/outreach programs for youth and adult-onset hunters. In 2015, the local chapter hosted 13 outreach events to engage more than 450 individuals in outdoor traditions, and assisted with an additional eight events with other partners, chapters and conservation organizations. Additionally, The Northern Colorado chapter annually hosts two overnight camps to engage participants in a wide variety of outdoor activities and skills, and has purchased two outreach trailers with equipment to host outdoor education events related to hunting, fishing, and camping.

Leading the education and outreach efforts of the local committee is Stan Barthlama, youth education chair for the Northern Colorado Chapter of Pheasants Forever. In 2015, Barthlama’s individual efforts included over 3,000 miles and 2500 hours of his personal time to help other chapters and organizations deliver outreach events throughout the state of Colorado. It is this personal sacrifice of Barthlama and other committee members that has led the local chapter to expend more than $245,000 for habitat and conservation outreach efforts in the regional area surrounding Fort Collins, Colorado.

Quail Forever NCLI Chapter of the Year

Quail Forever NCLI Chapter of the Year
Quail Forever NCLI Chapter of the Year

In early 2014, the Mark Twain Chapter of Quail Forever attended their first-ever Focus on Forever Conference – a training seminar for conservation volunteers to learn about hosting successful youth events – with the goal of impacting more youth in their local communities. One year later, the local committee has become a leading force for education and advocacy for youth involvement in conservation with the following activities:

  • Financial support of eight local shooting teams and a contribution of $3,000 to re-side a trap house for the local gun club
  • Worked a national FFA event at Bradford Farms and taught over 3000 students about quail habitat and the conservation mission of Quail Forever
  • Hosted a total of five learn-to-hunt events for dove and quail – the success of these projects has led to several landowners planting more wildlife habitat for future hunts
  • Completion of one Pollinator Habitat Project and a second in the beginning stages of planning

All of these efforts as part of the No Child Left Indoors Initiative support the core mission of Quail Forever – habitat. In fact, the Mark Twain Chapter of Quail Forever is taking on a larger workload of habitat projects through youth initiatives, including the funding of their local Prescribed Fire Association which is set to impact thousands of acres for habitat in the coming year. Since their inception as a chapter in 2010, the Mark Twain Chapter of Quail Forever has invested nearly $52,000 for wildlife habitat and youth education efforts in their local communities.

NCLI Volunteer of the Year

NCLI Volunteer of the Year
NCLI Volunteer of the Year

As a committee member and youth education chair for the Northwest Pennsylvania Chapter of Pheasants Forever, Heath Moss characterizes the outstanding volunteers of “The Habitat Organization” who contribute their personal time and efforts for youth conservation education. Working side-by-side with his father, wife, and two sons, Moss has become a vital addition to his local chapter and surrounding groups to provide support for outdoor youth initiatives in the region of northwest Pennsylvania. The following youth outreach activities have been completed under the direction of Moss and committee members of the Northwest Pennsylvania Chapter of Pheasants Forever:

  • Preparing youth for a future in conservation through annual learn-to-hunt events
  • Purchased a youth outreach trailer with equipment to host outdoor education events related to hunting, fishing, and camping.
  • Sponsorship of hunter education and trapper education courses on an annual basis
  • Hosted shooting sports clinics for youth interested in the nation’s fastest growing sport
  • Participated in Pheasants Forever’s Pollinator Habitat Program
  • Has attended four Focus on Forever Training Workshops throughout the country
  • 2016 National Pheasant Fest & Quail Classic volunteer and mentor in Rudy’s Youth Village

NCLI Partner Award

NCLI Partner Award
NCLI Partner Award

In addition to being an official Preferred Vendor of Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever, CZ-USA has demonstrated their ardent support of “The Habitat Organization” through programs and initiatives that promote youth shooting sports.

In 2015, Dave Miller, Shotgun Product Manager for CZ-USA, turned a dream into reality when he began a quest to set a new Guinness World Record for most clay targets shot in one hour. Additionally, this journey took on a higher personal meaning for Miller when he decided to form a fundraiser around the attempt – all in the name of youth shooting sports programs supported by Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever. With the blessing of Alice Poluchova, CEO of CZ-USA, Miller and his team raised over $85,000 in his successful world record attempt while supporting the No Child Left Indoors Initiative and FOREVER Shooting Sports Program of Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever. This partnership has benefited wildlife habitat, families and local chapters throughout the nation, and the organizations are already looking into the future to discuss their next fundraising endeavor to support youth programs and a vibrant shooting sports industry.

Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s No Child Left Indoors initiative is dedicated to educating and engaging the next generation of outdoor leaders and upland conservationists.

For more information, contact Cheryl Riley, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s vice president of education and outreach, at (651) 209-4975email.

About Pheasants Forever:

Pheasants Forever, including its quail conservation division, Quail Forever, is the nation’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to upland habitat conservation. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have more than 140,000 members and 700 local chapters across the United States and Canada. Chapters are empowered to determine how 100 percent of their locally raised conservation funds are spent; the only national conservation organization that operates through this truly grassroots structure. Since creation in 1982, Pheasants Forever has spent $635 million on 502,000 habitat projects benefiting over 14 million acres nationwide.

Pheasants Forever is dedicated to the conservation of pheasants, quail and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public awareness, education and land management policies and programs.